Good Morning NUNAverse,
The Biden administration kicked off the first White House Tribal Nations Summit on Monday. It was the first such gathering since the Obama White House held its last Tribal Nation Conference in September 2016. The summit began with a welcome form U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland followed by welcomes by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden. At the conclusion of his remarks, Biden signed a presidential executive order intended to strengthen public safety for tribal nations. The president outlined five new initiatives from his administration: protecting tribal treaty rights, increasing tribal participation in management of federal lands, incorporating tribal ecological knowledge into the federal government’s scientific approach, taking action to protect the greater Chaco Canyon area in New Mexico from further oil and gas leasing, and signing a new executive order addressing violence against Native people.
President Biden’s executive order gives federal law enforcement agencies roughly eight months to develop a comprehensive strategy for improving public safety and criminal justice in Indian Country. The order directs the Departments of Justice, the Interior, and Homeland Security to improve the federal government’s data collection and analysis efforts regarding violent crime and missing persons cases in Indian Country. The agencies will submit a report to the president on their efforts before July of next year.
New oil and gas leasing within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park will be prohibited for the next two years as officials consider a proposal to withdraw federal land in the area from development for a 20-year period, the U.S. Department of Interior said Monday. The announcement came as tribes, environmentalists, and Democratic politicians have pressured Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to take administrative action to protect a broad swath of land in northwestern New Mexico that holds significance for many Indigenous peoples in the Southwest. Secretary Haaland has called the area sacred and reiterated its importance on Monday, saying it has deep meaning for those whose ancestors once called the high desert home.
President Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law on Monday afternoon, a victory that will pour billions into the nation’s roads, ports, and power lines. Administration officials and a wide range of outside economists and business groups largely agree that the package is the most important step in a generation toward upgrading critical infrastructure — and that it could soon begin to pay dividends for a wide range of businesses and people, from electric vehicle manufacturers to rural web surfers. The bill allocates $11 billion in funding for Native communities across the country.
Montana tribes and conservation groups sued state environmental regulators last week after Governor Greg Gianforte’s administration dropped a legal claim against a mining executive over decades of pollution from several mines. The lawsuit was filed in state district court in Lewis and Clark County by attorneys for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Montana Environmental Information Center, and other groups. Under Gianforte, the Department of Environmental Quality in July quit a legal action that sought to block Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. and its president, Phillips Baker Jr., from involvement in two proposed silver and copper mines. Baker was an executive with Pegasus Gold, which went bankrupt in 1998, leaving state and federal agencies with more than $50 million in cleanup costs at several mines, including the Zortman and Landusky mines near the Fort Belknap reservation. A state “bad actor” law enacted in the wake of the Pegasus bankruptcy punishes companies and their executives who don’t clean up mining pollution. Under the law, companies and their senior leaders can’t receive new mining permits until they’ve reimbursed the state for past cleanup costs.
Keep reading for a full news update.
White House Tribal Nations Summit:
President Joe Biden Issues Five New Initiatives At The White House Tribal Nations Summit
Native News Online, Levi Rickert, November 15
The Biden administration kicked off the first White House Tribal Nations Summit on Monday. It was the first such gathering since the Obama White House held its last Tribal Nation Conference in September 2016. The summit began with a welcome form U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) followed by welcomes by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden. At the conclusion of his remarks, Biden signed a presidential executive order intended to strengthen public safety for tribal nations. The president outlined five new initiatives from his administration: protecting tribal treaty rights, increasing tribal participation in management of federal lands, incorporating tribal ecological knowledge into the federal government’s scientific approach, taking action to protect the greater Chaco Canyon area in New Mexico from further oil and gas leasing, and signing a new executive order addressing violence against Native Americans.
Joe Biden To Protect Native Site, Boost Safety
AP News, Darlene Superville, November 15
President Joe Biden on Monday ordered several Cabinet departments to work together to combat human trafficking and crime on Native lands, where violent crime rates are more than double the national average. Speaking at a White House summit on tribal nations, Biden signed an executive order tasking the Justice, Homeland Security and Interior departments with pursuing strategies to reduce crime. Biden also asked the departments to work to strengthen participation in Amber Alert programs and national training programs for federal agents, and appoint a liaison who can speak with family members and to advocates. The administration also announced plans to pursue a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico.
President Biden Issues Executive Order On Crime And Missing Or Murdered Indigenous People
Native News Online, November 15
Today at the White House Tribal Nations Summit, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order for “Improving Public Safety and Criminal Justice for Native Americans and Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People.” The order directs the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to improve data collection and information sharing. It also includes directives that the Attorney General issue recommendations to improve the use and accessibility of DNA database services, and to collect data for “ongoing analysis… on violent crime and missing persons involving Native Americans, including in urban Indian communities, to better understand the extent and causes of this crisis.” The order also directs the Departments of Justice, the Interior, HHS, Energy, and Homeland Security to “conduct timely consultations with Tribal Nations” and to “engage Native American communities to obtain their comments and recommendations,” and provides for increased collaboration across tribal nations and U.S. government agencies, as well as for technical assistance. The full text of the order is posted below.
Navajo Nation President And Gila River Governor Attend Historic $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Act Signing At White House
Native News Online, November 15
Just hours after the beginning of the White House Tribal Nations Summit, President Joe Biden signed the historic $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Job Act. Among the crowd in the South Lawn of the White House were Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen R. Lewis. They joined members of the president’s cabinet, including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), members of Congress, state governors, and local officials from around the United States. The Investment and Jobs Act will rebuild America’s roads, bridges, and rails; expand access to clean drinking water; ensure every American has access to high-speed internet; tackle the climate crisis; advance environmental justice; and drive the creation of well-paying union jobs. Major highlights of the Infrastructure Act for Indian Country are: providing the Reclamation Water Settlement Fund with $2.5 billion to fully fund existing Indian Water Rights Settlements; authorizing over $3 billion for the Tribal Transportation Program over five years with an additional $925 million for the Tribal Transportation Facility Bridges program (23 U.S.C. § 202(d)) over five years as supplemental appropriations; among others.
Law:
Biden Signs Infrastructure Bill, Promoting Benefits For Americans
New York Times, Jim Tankersley, November 15
President Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law on Monday afternoon, a bipartisan victory that will pour billions into the nation’s roads, ports and power lines. While the bill stopped short of realizing his full-scale ambitions for overhauling America’s transportation and energy systems, Mr. Biden pointed to it as evidence that lawmakers could work across party lines to solve problems in Washington.
Tribes Hope Infrastructure Law Means They’ll Finally Get Clean Drinking Water
NPR, Katia Riddle, November 15
Louie Pitt Jr. has a clear memory of a day four years ago when a valve broke on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. He was in a meeting with the tribal operations officer when she was interrupted by a phone call. “The worst situation I was talking about,” she told him, “it’s happening now. Pitt is an elder in The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The worst case situation he describes is still happening here. Due to an aging infrastructure system and insufficient funds to fix it, the tribes here have been limping along with inadequate water supply for years. There are frequent notices directing residents to boil water before consumption. Sometimes the water coming out of the tap is brown, and sometimes nothing comes out at all.
Biden Orders New Strategy IN Responding To MMIW Crisis
Boise State Public Radio, Nate Hegyi
President Joe Biden signed an executive order addressing violence against Indigenous people at the White House Tribal Nations Summit on Monday. It gives federal law enforcement agencies roughly eight months to develop a comprehensive strategy for improving public safety and criminal justice in Indian Country.
Tribes, Groups Sue To Enforce Mining Law
AP News, November 14
Montana tribes and conservation groups sued state environmental regulators Wednesday after Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration dropped a legal claim against a mining executive over decades of pollution from several mines. The lawsuit was filed in state district court in Lewis and Clark County by attorneys for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Montana Environmental Information Center and other groups. Under Gianforte, the Department of Environmental Quality in July quit a legal action that sought to block Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. and its president, Phillips Baker Jr., from involvement in two proposed silver and copper mines. Baker was an executive with Pegasus Gold, which went bankrupt in 1998, leaving state and federal agencies with more than $50 million in cleanup costs at several mines, including the Zortman and Landusky mines near the Fort Belknap reservation. A state “bad actor” law enacted in the wake of the Pegasus bankruptcy punishes companies and their executives who don’t clean up mining pollution. Under the law, companies and their senior leaders can’t receive new mining permits until they’ve reimbursed the state for past cleanup costs.
Land:
US: Oil, Gas Leases On Hold Around Chaco Park
AP News, Susan Montoya Bryan, November 15
New oil and gas leasing within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park will be prohibited for the next two years as officials consider a proposal to withdraw federal land in the area from development for a 20-year period, the U.S. Department of Interior said Monday. The announcement came as environmentalists, some tribes and Democratic politicians have pressured Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, to take administrative action to protect a broad swath of land in northwestern New Mexico that holds significance for many Indigenous people in the Southwest. Haaland has called the area sacred and reiterated its importance on Monday, saying it has deep meaning for those whose ancestors once called the high desert home.
Boarding Schools:
Honoring The Children
Indian Country Today, Stewart Huntington, November 15
On the far western reaches of Rapid City, South Dakota, lies a small, hardscrabble hill with poor, shallow soil and a deep and troubled history. A century ago, the United States operated an Indian boarding school nearby and, recently, researchers identified the hill as the final resting site for some Indigenous students who died at the school and were buried in unmarked graves. A community-led effort to build a proper and respectful monument to the students got a major boost Monday, Nov. 15, when it received a $100,000 donation from a national organization, Monument Lab, that is working to reimagine public monuments in the country. The Remembering the Children memorial would be the first large-scale installation in the country honoring students who died at Indian boarding schools. Monument Lab announced Monday the inaugural 10 members of its Re:Generation Cohort of innovative, community based projects. The lab is a nonprofit public art studio working to cultivate critical conversations around past, present and future monuments.
102 Died At Native American Boarding School In Nebraska
AP News, November 14
Researchers say they have uncovered the names of 102 Native American students who died at a federally operated boarding school in Nebraska. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the discovery comes as ground-penetrating radar has been used in recent weeks to search for a cemetery once used by the school that operated in Genoa from 1884 to 1934. So far, no graves have been found. The Genoa school was one of the largest in a system of 25 federally run boarding schools for Native Americans. The dark history of abuses at the schools is now the subject of a nationwide investigation.
Other:
Mississippi State Receives Grant To Return Native Remains
AP News, November 15
A new National Park Service grant will help Mississippi State University assess human remains found at a historically significant late prehistoric Native American mound near campus and return them to their decedents. The $90,000 grant is part of a larger $1.9 million in federal funds dispersed by the National Park Service through 11 grants across the U.S. supporting the transportation and return of cultural items. Since 1990, federal law has required that institutions like museums and schools that receive federal funding return human remains, funerary objects and other sacred items to their Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian descendants.
Superior Shows Generational Divide Over Views On Copper Mine
AP News, Aaron Dorman, November 14
The kids care about the future of mining. But they also care about Native American rights.
These kinds of contradictions and concerns lie in the background of Superior, a small town nestled in the mountains at the start of Pinal County’s Copper Corridor. Over 5,000 feet below the surface of Oak Flat, just to the east of Superior, lies a copper ore body that could be worth billions. But that’s not all that lies under the surface of Superior. While publicly, city leaders and community members show support for the Resolution Copper project, others claim there is a silent contingent of locals who fear the impacts of the block-cave mining operation will destroy the town forever. Support for the mine appears to follow an inverse-generational divide, as younger families and local students believe the mine will foster a resurgence in the city’s downtown corridor, while older residents, many of whom are former miners, harbor a deep distrust of the large mining companies that come in and extract without showing much concern for the mess they leave behind.